Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Fighting Poverty With Faith: Good Jobs Green JobsFor the fourth year in a row, JRF is supporting the "Fighting Poverty with Faith" initiative, a national, interfaith movement working to overcome poverty in the United States. Everyone is invited to participate, as an individual, family, congregation, community or youth group, school, or faith-based organization. All you need is the will to work to end hunger and poverty, and faith that, together, we can make real change in ourselves, our communities, and our country. The 2011 theme is “Working Together to End Hunger.” Please use this website to learn about the mobilization and find programming and advocacy resources for your community. We hope you will join us in our fight against poverty. (see http://fightingpovertywithfaith.com/f2/).

As Jews, we celebrate a tradition of justice and compassion, and we are called upon to hold ourselves and our communities accountable to the moral standard of this tradition. However, as we look across our country today, we see a nation where millions of people are lacking the basic necessities of life; we see growing numbers of jobless individuals, and even more people who are working, but whose wages are not enough to keep them out of poverty.

Fighting Poverty with Faith is our response to this painful reality. Fighting Poverty with Faith (FPWF) is building a nationwide movement to cut domestic poverty in half between 2010 and 2020. We are a diverse coalition of national and local faith groups that refuses to accept the status quo of poverty in United States. We bring the moral authority and the organizing power of the faith community to ensure that meeting the needs of those living in poverty is a national priority, and to highlight solutions that policy makers, community leaders and concerned individuals can take to address the root causes of poverty.

We are asking Reconstructionist clergy and community members to join individuals, synagogues, Jewish Community Relations Councils and federations to join together in the month of October and November 2011, to educate and to advocate around poverty in America.
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Previous Initiatives:
Fighting Poverty With Faith: Good Jobs Green JobsJRF endorses and joins national interfaith coalition "“FIGHTING POVERTY WITH FAITH: GOOD JOBS, GREEN JOBS", October 14-21, 2009 http://jta.org/news/article/2009/10/13/1008480/jcpa-works-for-good-jobs-green-jobs

JRF has joined The Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Catholic Charities USA who are co-chairing a national mobilization to create a united faith voice on poverty in America. We are joining over 30 other American faith organizations—including 13 national Jewish agencies—and expect more to sign on in the coming weeks. The centerpiece of the initiative is a week of action entitled “FIGHTING POVERTY WITH FAITH: GOOD JOBS, GREEN JOBS" to take place between October 14-21, 2009. Check out the mobilization’s website at www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com.

As members of the Jewish community, we have a strong tradition of helping those who are less fortunate. We run soup kitchens and missions and shelters, we give money to charity and we clean up parks and area neighborhoods. But we also know, as our sage Maimonides teaches, the highest and most virtuous form of helping another is to empower that person to take care of him or herself. We also know that one of the most sustainable solutions to poverty is the creation of good, family-supporting jobs and workforce policies that help people lift themselves out of poverty. Many of you participated in last year’s successful Fighting Poverty with Faith week of action. In 2009, we plan to build on last year’s success by promoting a more focused mobilization with deeper participation across the nation. The focus of this year’s mobilization is centered on creating pathways out of poverty through the promotion of workforce development and green jobs.

The goal is to create a strong and united faith voice to ensure that as we transition to a clean-energy economy, we take the opportunity to promote workforce strategies that will bring people out of poverty. While our nation’s transition to a new, energy efficient economy is already taking shape, it is up to us to ensure that this transition will lead to meaningful poverty-reduction and that communities are not left out of the opportunities presented by the emerging, green sectors. The faith community has a particularly important role to play in the creation of this new industry, because of our historic involvement in social service provision and because of the clear, moral messaging we bring to the table.

To these ends, faith organizations across the country will be taking coordinated actions throughout the week that engage their members in education and advocacy regarding green jobs. All of our national partners are also encouraging their grassroots membership and local affiliates to mobilize people of faith in communities across the country during this week. They are all sending similar memos and resources to their field, urging them collaborate with local partners on participating in the week of action and meeting these objectives.

If you have questions about participating in Fighting Poverty with Faith or implementing programming in your community, please contact For more information, please contact:

Elana at efox@thejcpa.org or 202-212-6037
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
1775 K Street NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20006
www.jewishpublicaffairs.org

Prior Sponsoring organizations: National Endorsing Organizations: Alliance to End Hunger, American Baptist Churches USA, Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies BBYO, Inc., Bread for the World, Catholic Charities USA, Center of Concern, The Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Evangelicals for Social Action, Hindu American Foundation, Hindu American Seva Charities, International Association of Jewish Vocational Services, Islamic Relief, Islamic Society of North America, Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Jewish Women International, Lutheran Services in America, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, The National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, National Council of Churches USA, National Council of Jewish Women, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Progressive National Baptist Church, The Rabbinical Assembly, Society of St. Vincent DePaul, Sojourners, Union for Reform Judaism, United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries, United Jewish Communities, The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society, Women of Reform Judaism.